This is a really cool project and also very affordable. I just ordered all of the stuff to build one of these and spent a total of just $70, and that's including the pumps. I'm super excited to dig in and build it and customize it. Thank you for sharing all of the info, and especially the code.

The only thing I can't see in the pictures is where the 1k resistors go. Do you have a picture of the back side of the completed prototype shield?

Also, how much pressure do you think the pumps can push against? I was thinking of hooking the outputs from the dosing tubes to my CO2 reactor instead of running them up to the tank. The reactor is under pressure of course, since it's below the tank, so I'm not sure how that would pan out.

Do the tube endings terminate under water? Are there check valves in the lines? Many of these cheaper peristaltic pumps are not 100% foolproof when it comes to preventing free flow (there may be a few degrees at which the rollers aren't sealing the tubing). With no check valves and tubes ending in the aquarium, you could end up with a back siphon if the pumps happen to stop in those positions.

The pumps I have make a tight seal an I haven't had an issue yet. Check valves should provide a little more piece of mind but I don't believe they are requires. (Maybe one day). The tubes are under water but only a little so not more then half an inch could possibly drain out. (If a pump was to fail.. But the gear drives seem solid.

This is just on the breadboard to make sure it all worked. I still have to solder it all up, customize the code some more, and put it in a pretty box. But I have it dosing a perfect 5 mL right now, so I am quite happy with the project so far!

@Shift:can you do a 5 pump system? or Even a 6 pump system with the 6th pump being a more powerful one.

I am in need of a dosing pump that has 1 pump for N,P,K,Iron,Trace and top off.

Also can you assign unique multiple schedules for each pump?

Can you also log the dosing and record the time and amount dosed. <- it would be nice to chart the nutrient levels based on the amount dosed to get a picture on how much nutrient is being added to the water column. I wanted to experiment on a more accurate dosing based on the requirements of my tank and having the ability to log the amount dosed when experimenting with different levels would be an awesome feature.

@Shift:can you do a 5 pump system? or Even a 6 pump system with the 6th pump being a more powerful one.

I am in need of a dosing pump that has 1 pump for N,P,K,Iron,Trace and top off.

The Arduino UNO has 6 PWM pins, so you could do this with up to 6 pumps on this board. There are other Arduino boards with more PWM pins.

Quote:

Also can you assign unique multiple schedules for each pump?

Absolutely. You can pump each independently of each other on it's own schedule for it's own length of time and at it's own speed. For example, you could pump trace slower and for a shorter time to dose a small amount (i.e. 5 mL), and then your pump top off faster and for longer to dose a larger amount (i.e. 500 mL).

Quote:

Can you also log the dosing and record the time and amount dosed. <- it would be nice to chart the nutrient levels based on the amount dosed to get a picture on how much nutrient is being added to the water column. I wanted to experiment on a more accurate dosing based on the requirements of my tank and having the ability to log the amount dosed when experimenting with different levels would be an awesome feature.

I'm far from any sort of expert, so I could be wrong, but I don't think the Arduino has any built in way to store log data, unless you left it hooked up to your computer all the time. If you wanted it to be stand alone, I think you'd need to add something to save the data to, like an SD card reader, which is totally possible.

unless you left it hooked up to your computer all the time. If you wanted it to be stand alone, I think you'd need to add something to save the data to, like an SD card reader, which is totally possible.

correct. There are several options. You can write text to some storage device like an SD card, or to a data logging device. Or put an ethernet shield on it to have it send data to a database.

If you hook it up to your computer via usb, you'll need an app to listen to the usb/serial port to write it to a text file. I have an app like that I wrote if you need it.

These pumps are super quiet when you have them in a box as well. I had to set a reminder on my phone so that I could be present to watch and make sure the pumps were working at the desired time because I couldn't hear them and was worried it wasn't working. Making one of these is worth it 100% !!! Mine is sans Arduino though.. Just a tad simpler but less controlled.

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